Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I am the reptile keeper at the Alexandria Zoo in Alexandria, LA. I had something happen the other day at work that I have never seen before. So I got a call over the radio from one of the other keepers that they needed me to come to the muntjac (small Asian deer) exhibit and bring something to remove a snake that looks like it is eating a Mandarin duck egg. Now I figured its probably a garter or rat snake sitting on top of a warm clutch of eggs. Well I get over there and in the muntjac barn there is a Texas/Black rat snake curled up on top of the eggs with half an egg in its mouth. Now I had heard what I assumed were tall tales of snakes eating chicken eggs. I am one of those people unless you have a picture, video or I have seen it then I don't believe it. I think that comes from being a biology major. But I removed the snake and unfortunetly it did not get to finish it's meal but under the snake there were two other eggs that were cracked open with nothing inside and the egg he was swallowing was cracked and their was a half formed Mandarin duck baby in it. I don't know if he some how got in the other eggs and at them or what but I do know that he was prepared to swallow that whole egg.

I just felt I needed to share that experience because that made my day at work.
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1.1 Motley het butter corns
0.1 Snow corn
0.1 Okeetee corn
1.0 Anery mutt corn
0.1 Stripe Ghost corn
0.1 Amelanistic corn het carmel
2.1 Colombian Redtails
1.0 Hypo Colombian redtail
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Anery Kenyan sand boa
0.1 Normal Kenyan sand boa

I've never witnessed it personally, but I have seen photos of Texas Rats eating the eggs of wood ducks.

congrats on having something exciting happen at the "office".

do you do any herping in Kisatchie? I go hiking near Alexandria all the time.
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The Reticulated Rattler

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

Yes,....nature at it's best!..LOL!

The American Ratsnake complex are quite noted for, and willing to raid nests of birds, and will eagerly eat anything in the nest that they can swallow.....sizeable adults, nestlings, and yes,... the eggs as well.

I'll bet that WAS exciting to see for yourself!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

LOL. Remeber the alternate name for all American Ratsnake ( obseleta) races is Chicken Snake. They got the nickname for a reason!

Matthew

n/p
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I have personally witnessed a TX Rat Snake eating duck eggs out of a nest under a kids playground in Lockhart State Park. Way cool!
Amanda

been a few years,but I remember stumbling across a duck nest with 8 eggs and a decidedly lumpy Black rat in it,some hours later.there were 4 eggs.My best guess at the time was the 4 footer had already swallowed 4 or so.
A year or so later,in the same county park,I found a duck nest with 13 eggs in it.Two to three hours later,I saw 2 lumpy black rats in excess of 6 feet,swimming along the shore line.
I went to the nest,which wasn't very far away,and found it empty

Bear

I love those descriptives... "a decidedly lumpy black rat snake"

reminds me of those cartoons where the snaked eats the main character and you can see his shape, still standing, in the snake as it slithers away.

anyway, is it safe to feed rat snakes eggs? I mean, is there a risk of salmonella? could you use warmed store bought eggs? would you need to get eggs from someone who raises chickens so they still have a scent on them? Would this diet be sufficient or would it need to be supplemented?

It would be a cheaper substitute for jumbo rats.
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The Reticulated Rattler

1.0.0 Great Plains Ratsnake
1.0.0 Corn, Lavender Aztec het for Amel
0.1.0 Black Ratsnake
0.0.1 Texas Rat (tame)
1.0.0 Broad Banded Water Snake, Hypo
1.0.0 Black Bassador Retriever
2.1.0 Godchildren, 1 Evil, 2 possible hets

As mentioned above the Obsoleta species are known for raiding nests and taking eggs. Here's a couple of (poor) photos of my Grey x Everglades eating a shop-bought Quail egg.
i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/DraigGochHerp/DSCF0167.jpg
i7.photobucket.com/albums/y278/DraigGochHerp/DSCF0163.jpg
It's not something I have offerred them often and not done it for a while now. Time to buy some Quail eggs and see which ones will take the odd egg, I know my Japanese Rats will.
Graham.
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30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Royal, Boa, Diadems
www.ratsnakefoundation.org

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30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Royal, Boa, Diadems
www.ratsnakefoundation.org

How long did it take before the egg(s) broke inside the snake?

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Cheers Doug.
To be honest I couldn't say as he is a heavily bodied snake so there was no obvious bump once swallowed. The diameter of the egg was less than half that of the extra large mice he was eating at that time.
Graham.
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30 Snakes :
Corns, Milks, Kings, American Rats, Asian Rats, Leopard Rat, Royal, Boa, Diadems
www.ratsnakefoundation.org

Yes,..that DOES make good sense, now that you mention it!..unless you palpated for it, that would be hard to see..LOL!

best regards, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

“anyway, is it safe to feed rat snakes eggs? I mean, is there a risk of salmonella? “
.
Yes and no… with the same risks as for people who drink raw egg smoothies, so make sure they are fresh.
Often, only the very largest CB NA RSs (wow, could I find more acronyms?) can handle even “small” size eggs from the grocery.
As DraigGochHerp was nice enough to show, Quail eggs are really perfect size. If you know a pigeon breeder nearby, these are very good also.
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“could you use warmed store bought eggs? “
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You can warm them in a cup of warm water, and it’s usually best to dry them.
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“would you need to get eggs from someone who raises chickens so they still have a scent on them? “
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Some are picky that way.. Some are not…All you can do is try.
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“Would this diet be sufficient or would it need to be supplemented?”
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Think of the eggs as a supplement or a treat, not the mainstay.
Expect poop to smell more and a little looser.

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Regards, Bill McGighan

"but under the snake there were two other eggs that were cracked open with nothing inside and the egg he was swallowing was cracked and their was a half formed Mandarin duck baby in it. I don't know if he some how got in the other eggs and at them or what but I do know that he was prepared to swallow that whole egg."
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Thanks for sharing that .... Really interesting....
The part about the eggs being cracked is really strange....
You probably know that NA Rat Snakes swallow the egg whole and intact, and then digest everything without crushing the egg, unlike Pits (Pines/gophers/Bulls) who dramatically crush the egg after swallowing it.
Makes you wonder if there wasn't some other dramatic event there, before the snake settled down in to eating the eggs?!!
Or maybe the duck eggs were very delicate?
Either way, interesting.
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TR from very close to Alexandria...

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Regards, Bill McGighan